Archive for April 23, 2007

Head over to Gamasutra for the rest of this Q & A with one of the largest distributors in the U.S. It makes for an interesting read.

“Betson is one of the largest distributors of arcade games in the U.S., as the distribution arm of H. Betti Industries, and is currently distributing games from Eugene Jarvis’ arcade developer Raw Thrills, among others.

After the recent releases of The Fast and the Furious: Drift and Big Buck Hunter Pro, we spoke with Betson senior marketing manager Ryan Cravens about the current state of the arcade industry, its future, and the legacy of his father Bill Cravens, who passed away on March 29.”

This has been one of the best weeksfor the Wii Virtual Console ever, with Punch Out being re-released earlier this week. It gets better though, Sega decided to give us a few extra games, which “will soon be available for download on the Wii Shop Channel. Prices start at 800 Wii Points for SEGA Genesis titles.” Here they are:

Streets of Rage 2: To celebrate their defeat of the syndicate exactly one year before, Blaze, Adam and Axel met for drinks. The next morning, Axel received a frantic phone call from Eddie ‘Skate’ Hunter, Adam’s younger brother, whom he was living with on the edge of the city. Blaze and Axel found Adam and Skate’s house wrecked and a picture of Adam chained to a wall at the feet of Mr. X. The city then once again returned to its nightmarish state and criminals ran rampant. Unable to contact their old friend from the military, Axel and Blaze team up with Skate and Max Thunder to free the city and rescue Adam from the Syndicate. It is up to you to take down Mr. X once and for all!

I kind of have this weird fetish for clocks…and Nintendo. You can find Nintendo clocks at a lot of online retailers or if you happen to be in Japan. In the USA, not so much. So I decided to create my own Nintendo clock. I found all of the parts for the clock at a local craft store (Clockworks, wood frame, black paint, glue sticks and clear spray varnish. I first found the art I wanted and cut out the various images accordingly. After that I drilled a hole in the back of the frame for the clock itself. I painted the frame black, attached my images using a glue stick and the sprayed the entire thing with varnish. Finally, I installed the clock pieces. I did have to replace the actual hands included in the clock kit with some more “retro” looking ones. The whole project took me about an hour from start to finish and I’m really happy with the results. It’s an easy and cheap project that yields some great results. If any of you get the inkling to try it, send me pictures and I’ll post them! Oh, by the way, this is our 100th post! Yay!

I kind of have this weird fetish for clocks…and Nintendo. You can find Nintendo clocks at a lot of online retailers or if you happen to be in Japan. In the USA, not so much. So I decided to create my own Nintendo clock. I found all of the parts for the clock at a local craft store (Clockworks, wood frame, black paint, glue sticks and clear spray varnish. I first found the art I wanted and cut out the various images accordingly. After that I drilled a hole in the back of the frame for the clock itself. I painted the frame black, attached my images using a glue stick and the sprayed the entire thing with varnish. Finally, I installed the clock pieces. I did have to replace the actual hands included in the clock kit with some more “retro” looking ones. The whole project took me about an hour from start to finish and I’m really happy with the results. It’s an easy and cheap project that yields some great results. If any of you get the inkling to try it, send me pictures and I’ll post them! Oh, by the way, this is our 100th post! Yay!

The only pinball show in the Rocky Mountain region and one of the largest in the nation, the fourth annual Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown will be held April 27-29, 2007, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colorado, USA.

The family-friendly amusement game extravaganza opens its doors for fans to play pinball for over 30 hours on one of the largest public collections of over 100 pinball machines and video games set on free play. No quarters needed. The show welcomes pinball collectors, hobbyist, the best players in the world and folks who just want to have some pinball fun. In addition to over 100 classic and modern pinball machines and video games to play on, the three-day weekend is packed with tournaments for all ages and skill levels, free pinball seminars hosted by experts in their fields, a swap meet and a rare glimpse of pinball history.

Over at Highway Games they have 3 new games; Ghost Squad Evolution, Big Buck Hunter Pro and Global Arcade Classics, on thier product listings. Head over there now for the full low down.

A expansion of the original Ghost Squad game, classed as Ghost Squad 2 in some circles. It is a shooting game where, players take the roles of elite special forces agents called Ghost Squad. Each player is equipped with a replica of a army rifle.

Big Buck Hunter Pro is big game hunting simulator. This version features an all-new two-player element known in the game as “Shootout”. Shootout lets two players compete in head to head, real time competition.

This cabinet is has been announced as the first legal, fully licensed and expandable Multi-Game Video Arcade Machine. The machine features 2 player joysticks, 6 buttons per side and a trackball.